Nonrewind machine for magnetic record medium



May 9, 1950 N. M. SEEBURG 2,505,942

NONREWIND MACHINE FOR MAGNETIC RECORD MEDIUM Filed Aug. 17, 1945 IN VEN TOR.

ATTORNEY Patented May 9, 1950 NONR-EWIND MACHINE FOB, MAGNETIC RECORD MEDIUMv Noel M-.--' Seeburg. Ghicago, Ill., assigncr to J. P. S'eeburg: Corporation, Chicago, 111., .a corpora.-

tion of. Illinois Application August'17, 1945; S'er'ial'No. 611125" This invention relates to' a non rewindmachine for wire recording'mediumand is applica- :ble primarily tomachineswhich will reproduce a recording from such medium repeatedly without the necessity of-rewinding themedium af er each reproduction.

In order repeatedly toreproduce the recording the medium is continuous-and improved means are provided for stringthe-major part of the medium and means-are'providedto insure the feeding of the medium-through'the storage means duringreproduction;

This invention is" highly: advantageous for use with fine wire or filament which presents the special diih'culties in the matter' of storing a large length of the mediumand progressively feedingthe medium throughth'e storing means, the wire or filament being very small, forexample of the order of three or four thousandths of. an inch in diameter.

In accordance With the present invention'I provide a high speedrotor and a circumambient stator.

one convolution of the wire cannot pass an adjacent convolution, and at the same time a slight clearance is provided so that any convolution mayexpand slightly out of efiective contact with the rotor.

I prefer to make the rotor and stator in the form of cylinders for easeof manufacture and assembly.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention I provide in the stator a helical recess in which the stored wireis located. As the wireiswithdrawn from the storage means the convolutions thereof tend to contract bringing them into effective contact with the rotor. The peripheral speed of the rotor is greater than the speed of the wire so that the wire is fed alongthe helical recess from supply to discharge ends. In reproduction the Wire helix makes slightfrictional contact with the rotor so that the Wire is fed through the storage means with a certain amount of slippage between the wire helix and the high speed rotor.

The invention will more readily-be understood from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is an elevational'view'of a machine embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof; and

Figs. 3 and 4 are consequently details illustrat- The main bulk of the wire isreceived i11- helical form between the stator and rotor the spacing of the members being such that any- Claims; (Cl. 23-715) cooperate with the-wire-orsimilar recording.me-

ing the manner in which the stator and rotor l5 dium.

Referring to the drawings the reference nu?- meral it'designates the recording medium which L may, for example,- be a-steel wire of three orfouru This-wire.-= is continuous, its ends beingwelded or otherwise The wire extends.

thousandths ofan inch in a diameter.

suitably secured together. through apickup magnet H ofknown-typeawhich derives signals fromthe-wire in known manner.

The-bulk of the wireisstoredwithin:a helical; recess-12 formed'on the inner-side of.ia.station- Within-the cylinder 13-. is a; smooth surface cylinder M whi'ch is -rotatably L. mounted in bearings l5 and is:arrangedto be;- driven at a high speed by means of.a'-pulley1it'.'.

ary cylinder i3.-

The clearancebetween the two-cylinders is quite small and the arrangement is such that the wire 1 cannotmove from one convolution of the recess.

to the next except by its longitudinal movement.

A certain degree of play is providedso that the:

wire may move clear or the rotatingcylinder. 54-; into the recess li. The upper end. (asviewed in Figs. 2, 3 and 4) of the recess:i2:.extendsinto. a tangential openinggze i in .the.-. wall of the; cylinder l3 throughwhich the wire may pass outwardlyaround a pulley. i!.. The wirepassing; around the: pulley H moves over. a' guide pulley properly to locate-the wire with relation to. the;

magnet i. The wire isfrictionallyengaged be.- tween the roller; i9 andla roller-22-rdriven at: constantspeedhy a-motori2t- Apulley -Zflis driven; from the motor 23; thispully:.dIlVesathe pulley lt by means of-a belt 26.v The cylinder I4. is driven in the direction indicated-by the. arrowsand this: particular -direction requiresthe recess- I Z to be a'right-hand helix.

The cylinder Mr. is...driven. at..a much, highen circumferential..speedithan is the wire iilso that:

the wire iwithin thehelical recesswl2.,-.isznormally. moved out of frictional contactxwith" the cylinder;

|4*--towards its position shown-1in:;Eig;.3. In re.-. production the drive of.the.wire- .efiected by the: rollers I9 and-2 2. drawsthe wire-out of" the cylinde1 l3 through the. openingLZtqcausing the wire within the upper part of therecess 12. to move into engagement with the high speedarotor .15.: Consequently the rotorl l movesthe wireup-- wardly through -the-heli'cal-recess- 12. all of the wire within the recess [2 moving into engagement with the surface of the cylinder l4. Thus if the wire in Fig. 3 were drawn out to bring the upper part (as viewed in that figure) of the wire in the recess I2 into engagement with the cylinder M as shown in Fig. 4, the rotation of this cylinder would move the wire upwardly (as viewed in that figure) until the upper part was out of effective frictional engagement with the cylinder M. The upward movement of the wire would contract lower convolutions thereof so that the wire in those convolutions would be moved upwardly and so on until all the wire in the cylinders was moved up bodily and all the wire in the recess I2 was out of efiective frictional contact with the cylinder M. In reproduction the wire is withdrawn from and supplied to the recess l2 at a uniform rate and all th wire in the recess l2 makes slight frictional contact with the cylinder I4 so that the wire is fed upwardly through the recess l2 at a uniform speed which is considerably lower than the speed of the surface of the cylinder [4. In other Words the feed is uniform and there is a considerable degree Of slippage between the wire and the surface of the cylinder Hi. If there is an isolated contraction of the wire helix, the contracted convolutions are snubbed to the cylinder 14 so that the contraction is immediately relieved.

In order to accommodate wire of slightly varying lengths, it is preferred to mount the spindle of the pulley H on a carriage 21 which is adjustably mounted on a slide 28. Proper adjustment of the carriage 27 provides a small degree of slack in the medium, which slack is normally accommodated between the rotor and stator during operation.

Although the invention has been described in connection with specific details of a preferred embodiment thereof it must be understood that the same are not intended to be limitative of the invention except in so far as set forth in the accompanying claims.

Havin thus described my invention I declare that what I claim is:

1. In a machine for magnetic recording medium, a storage mechanism comprising a high speed rotor and a stator surrounding said rotor and maintaining a space therebetween to receive a helix of said medium, said stator being provided with a helical recess to receive said medium, the space between the stator and rotor being sufliciently small to prevent one convolution of the medium from passing from one convolution of the recess to an adjacent convolution of the recess except by axial movement, said recess being sufiiciently deep to permit the medium to move out of contact with the rotor.

2. In a machine for magnetic recording medium, in combination, storage mechanism comprising a high speed rotor and a stator surrounding said rotor and maintaining a space therebetween to receive a helix of said medium, the space between the rotor and stator being sufficiently small to prevent one convolution from passing an adjacent convolution, and sufficiently large to permit the medium to move out of contact with the rotor, and means for withdrawing said medium from said storage mechanism at a speed lower than the peripheral speed of the rotor whereby the helix is contracted in the radial direction and snubbed on to the high speed rotor and fed thereby in the helical direction to point of withdrawal.

3. In a machine for magnetic recording medium, in combination, storage mechanism comprising a high speed rotor and a stator surrounding said rotor and maintaining a space therebetween to receive a. helix of said medium, a helical recess in said stator adapted to receive said helix, the space between the rotor and stator being sumciently small to prevent a convolution of the helix from passing from a convolution of the recess to an adjacent convolution except by axial movement of the medium, said recess being sufficiently deep to permit the medium to move out of contact with the rotor, and means for withdrawin said medium from said storage mechanism at a speed lower than the peripheral speed of the rotor whereby the helix is contracted in the radial direction and snubbed on the high speed rotor and fed thereby in the helical direction to the point of withdrawal.

4. In a machine for continuous magnetic recording medium, in combination, storage mechanism comprising a high speed rotor and a stator surroundin said rotor and maintaining a space therebetween, an endless length of medium having its major portion located in the space between the stator and rotor in the form of a helix and a minor portion or loop to the exterior of said stator, the space between the rotor and stator being sufficiently small to prevent one convolution of the helix from passing an adjacent convolution and sufiiciently large to permit the medium to move out of contact with the rotor, exterior means for moving the loop and thereby withdrawing medium from the storage mechanism at a speed lower than the peripheral speed of the rotor whereby the helix is contracted in the radial direction and snubbed on to the high speed rotor and fed thereby in the helical direction to the point of withdrawal.

5. In a machine for continuous magnetic recording medium, in combination, storage mechanism comprising a high speed rotor and a stator surrounding said rotor and maintaining a space therebetween, an endless length of medium having its major portion located in the space between the stator and rotor in the form of a helix and a minor portion or loop to the exterior of said stator, a helical recess in said stator adapted to receive said helix, the space between the rotor and stator being sufficiently small to prevent a convolution of the helix from passing from a convolution of the recess to an adjacent convolution except by axial movement of the medium, said recess being sufficiently deep to permit the medium to move out of contact with the rotor, exterior means for moving the loop and thereby withdrawing medium from the storage mechanism at a speed lower than the peripheral speed of the rotor whereby the helix is contracted in the radial direction and snubbed on to the high speed rotor and fed thereby in the helical direction to the point of withdrawal.

NOEL M. SEEBURG.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 344,554 Weygant June 29, 1886 2,002,996 Hoefinghofi et al. May 28, 1935 2,343,684 Mace Mar. 7, 1944 2,421,750 Garnett June 10, 1947 

